Warning! The options described here are for spouse beneficiaries named on the beneficiary forms of IRA accounts. Non-spouse beneficiaries and spouses who inherit through an estate have a different sets of rules.
It sounds funny to say, but death is a part of life for all of us. It’s one of the few things that all of us have in common at some point, and it’s one of the few issues that must be addressed in every plan. While every situation is unique and we all have our own goals and objectives, the overwhelming majority of married couples with IRAs and other similar accounts, such as 401(k)s and 403(b)s, name their spouse as their primary beneficiary as part of their estate plans. As such, knowing the rules for when a spouse inherits an IRA is critical for just about every married couple.
Divorce is often an expensive endeavor, but sometimes there are steps you can take to minimize that pain. Take Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner, for instance. This couple just hit the 10-year marriage mark, which brings these new retirement implications into play.
Is your spouse really your spouse (for retirement plan purposes)? We go through several court cases that illustrate how things may not seem as they appear when it comes to your "wives" and retirement plan beneficiaries.
In private letter rulings (PLRs) 201430026 and 2014130029, IRS allowed the surviving spouses to roll their inherited IRAs through a trust to their own IRAs. The twist here is that the trust beneficiary was the spouse’s own trust, not a trust established by the decedent. In nearly identical situations, a husband named his wife’s trust as the beneficiary of his IRA. Both husbands died before attaining age 70 ½. Properly titled inherited IRAs were set up for the trust beneficiaries. Each wife was the trustee of her own trust and had no limits on her ability to take distributions
This week's Slott Report Mailbag looks at how long you have to store year-end retirement account statements as well as how a spousal beneficiary should do if he or she decides to leave a deceased spouse's IRA separate from their own. Click to read this week's Q&A with our IRA Technical Consultant.
We have talked about inheriting IRAs as a younger spouse as well as QLACs (qualified longevity annuity contracts) and their compatibility with IRAs now that they have meshed with IRA required minimum distribution (RMD) rules. Along with the articles below, we gathered in Chicago just over one week ago for a video roundtable to answer some of the frequently asked questions on the topics as well as provide advisors and consumers with an educational audio/visual component.
Richard has an IRA and has named his wife Diane as the beneficiary. Richard dies unexpectedly at age 52. Diane is 50. What should she do with Richard’s IRA?This is a case when the spouse should probably remain a beneficiary of the IRA. Here's why.
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